CHARLOTTE — A battle is brewing in Raleigh over criminal justice reform in the wake of the murder of Iryna Zarutska, but Rep. Laura Budd of southern Mecklenburg County says reform needs to be bipartisan.
“Where are the local North Carolina Republican leaders?,” Budd asked Monday morning at a press conference outside of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. “They’re in Raleigh having press conferences and their latest posture on crime is no different.”
After GOP leadership in the State House laid out their plans to change the criminal code last week, she says she has a few ideas of her own from the other side of the aisle, and her hope is both sides can work together.
“We have always been a beacon as a purple state of what it means to have a wide variety of differing viewpoints, and it’s my hope that we can continue to be a leader,” she said.
Budd’s ideas include funding 5,000 more local police officers in the state, funding 5,000 crisis assistance co-responders, allowing magistrates and judges in the state to directly begin proceedings for mental health commitments, and passing legislation that allows the state to hold people ruled incompetent to stand trial in state hospitals.
“To execute, this plan is going to require time and financial investment in the courts and public safety infrastructure, including our transit system,” Budd said.
On Wednesday, GOP leaders gathered in Charlotte to put forward their own package for state criminal code reform. It includes restarting the death penalty in the state, ending cashless bail for those with past felony convictions, and making sure magistrates are factoring homeless and mental health issues when deciding whether someone should get pretrial release. The Speaker of the House put the blame for crime on local leadership.
“We are dealing with a local government, really Mecklenburg County and the city of Charlotte, two local governments that in my opinion have lost institutional control of their areas,” Speaker Destin Hall said.
Budd says placing blame is not helpful, and her hope is conversations can be had between both sides of the aisle before legislation is passed.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein put out that same sentiment as Rep. Budd asking for a bipartisan conversation to try and get changes passed.
The legislative session is set to open in Raleigh one week from today. Republicans have a supermajority in the Senate but are one vote shy of the House.
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